King Charles’ Coronation: A Royal Recap On How Brands Celebrated The Historic Event
In marketing, you need to strike when the iron is hot. An event that everyone is talking about, a meme being shared virally on social media, a crucial cultural moment – it could be anything. If your customers, clients, competitors, and prospective leads are all talking about something, you must promptly jump into the conversation. After all, it’s all about capturing the zeitgeist. That’s exactly what several brands did at the time of King Charles’ coronation ceremony.
While some campaigns were just scrolled past on social media, some changed the game. Some of them happened outdoors but won a lot of social media mentions and some happened online and also connected with in-store audiences. Are you excited to hear about some of these interesting campaigns that were created in honor of King Charles’ coronation ceremony?
Let’s have a look at them. And before we get there, we’ll also talk about the reasons why not many brands took part in the royal race.
Planning a campaign to celebrate King Charles’ coronation was no easy feat
Planning a campaign around historic moments like this one is not an easy job. That too considering that the previous coronation took place seven decades ago.
So, before we talk about the actual campaigns that grabbed the attention of people in the UK and around the globe, let’s take a moment to appreciate brands that dared to take that step. Because some historic events are tricky for brands to tackle. There are a lot of complex emotions attached to them. There’s history that’s sometimes not very straightforward to perceive.
To top it all, people are divided when it comes to their views about a few such events. On one hand, there was one section of the people in the UK cheering for their new King and celebrating the occasion. On the other, there was a section that was protesting the coronation and demanding democracy. The #NotMyKing hashtag made the protest popular on social media as well.
Finally, there was a small portion of the population that was celebrating the extra holiday that came with the ceremony.
In short, brands that planned campaigns close to the ceremony had a challenging job at hand – to target audience segments that were poles apart.
There is also a revered brand behind the Royal Family. Also, there were stringent rules laid down for the use of Royal symbols including the crown and emblem. Designing amidst all these rules must have been an uphill battle. That’s why it’s worth taking away marketing lessons as well as ad design lessons from these campaigns.
So, now it’s time to get down to business.
5 brands that celebrated King Charles’ Coronation
1. Heinz
For King Charles’ coronation, Heinz went all in with its marketing campaign.
Heinz came up with a limited edition product called “Kingchup” which is the regular version of its iconic ketchup with a refreshed “royal” packaging. It also introduced a limited edition bundle that included a variety of other merchandise like a coffee mug, coasters, and a tea towel. All of these carried British celebratory designs along with Heinz’s iconic branding. They turned out to be the perfect memorabilia to celebrate the occasion.
Additionally, to promote the limited edition pack and also to celebrate King Charles’ coronation with its social media audience, the brand hosted a giveaway.
Takeaways
- The limited edition bundle from Heinz comes as a reminder of the strength of merchandise marketing. When you give customers tangible branded items to hold on to, they remember your brand longer.
- Heinz hosting the giveaway is proof that social media contests work for brands big and small and also in all industries. Actually, these are great to build your social media presence since they call for users to tag their friends, follow your account and share your posts. That brings a huge boost to your brand’s social media engagement within a short period.
- The quick video showing what’s inside the box was enough to create excitement for the giveaway. This is an idea that most brands benefit from. In fact, order-packing videos are a huge trend on social media.
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2. Burger King
To celebrate King Charles’ coronation, Burger King executed a brilliant idea in the simplest way possible.
Burger King changed the store signage outside its Leicester Square outlet highlighting just the word King without altering the logo in any other way. Subtle and yet a noticeable detail perfectly in line with the occasion!
Furthermore, the signature paper crown at Burger King also incorporated custom graphics for the ceremony.
Takeaways
- The simple yet effective execution of Burger King’s idea is a reminder of how valuable store signage is in a brand’s marketing.
- Like Heinz, Burger King also used tangible branded materials (the Burger King crown) to interact with its audience. Campaigns like these keep proving the fact that print designs and tangible branding collateral are here to stay.
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3. McDonald’s
Since we spoke about Burger King, how can we forget its iconic competitor, McDonald’s? McDonald’s took a creative route to get into the royal spirit. To cheer for the occasion, the brand commissioned the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and came up with a custom jingle to create what the brand called a “royal fanfare fit for a King”.
The orchestra was a beautiful surprise for the McDonald’s customers. The McDonald’s jingle, “ba da ba ba ba”, at the end was the perfect finishing touch.
Perfect for the theme but creatively customized to make customers feel special – now that’s a great campaign, don’t you think?
Takeaways
- If you are not sure if a campaign idea will work, think of the kind of value or experience it creates for your customers. If the idea is going to make your customers feel special, like the McDonald’s campaign for King Charles’ coronation, then your idea will work.
- To create instant brand recognition you need to have a strong brand identity. And you need to consistently imprint this brand identity in your audience. Like the globally recognized McDonald’s jingle for example! For some brands, this might be a tagline and for some, this might be something as simple as a distinct logo symbol.
4. Tesco
The popular British chain of supermarkets pleasantly surprised its customers with its experiential campaign for King Charles’ coronation. The historic holiday meant celebration around the country. What better way to embrace this than to embrace a tradition that most Brits relate to? So, Tesco opened a pub for two days and created a royal experience for its customers.
The pop-up pub was titled The King in the Castle and it was elegantly decorated with all the pomp and flair to align with the occasion. After all, occasions like these are sometimes once-in-a-generation events that you cannot miss.
Takeaways
- The Tesco pub campaign is a brilliant example of the effectiveness of pop-up shops in this busy world. In-store experiences help with raising brand awareness as well as winning long-term relationships with customers.
- The theme was easy for people to relate to. Moreover, it’s all about the experience. Since the idea resonated with traditions, it connected with the local audience wonderfully. Moreover, it was about food and drinks with loved ones which is just perfect for holidays.
- In addition to the rest of the aspects of the campaign, the cause attached to it added more meaning to the idea. Tesco announced that £250,000 from the proceeds of the pub were to go to The Prince’s Trust. Cause marketing, after all, is a great way to humanize a brand and connect with the audience.
5. Uber
Similar to Tesco, Uber also leveraged experiential marketing to commemorate King Charles’ coronation ceremony.
Uber created an elegant replica of the royal chariot and named it the Coronation Carriage. The carriage was available at Dulwich Park for customers to take a royal ride around the park. The idea of giving its customers a “taste of the regal life” was a fantastic idea.
The above video shows the genuine surprise and the sense of nostalgia the Coronation Carriage created in customers. So, full marks for the out-of-the-box idea!
Takeaways
- When the race gets tougher on occasions like this one, you need to get really creative to stand out. And when you do that, you attract the attention of not just your potential customers and existing customers but also the media. The perks of media coverage for a brand need no introduction. Uber’s campaign is proof that a moment marketing idea executed correctly can strengthen your brand reputation.
- As you can see, even as the brand embraced the occasion, it did not deviate from its niche. Carriage or cab, it is about transportation after all!
Special mention – 19 Crimes
While there were several other small-scale campaigns, in-store experiences, limited-time discounts, branded merchandise sales, and social media campaigns executed ahead of the ceremony, one campaign deserves a special mention for creativity. The campaign from 19 Crimes is what we are talking about.
As you can see, most brands took the usual path of capturing the royal celebrations and the festive mood. But not many paid attention to the rest of the crowd crying for a change. 19 Crimes did. As a brand, it is known for its unconventional approach. The brand encourages breaking the rules and letting out the inner rebel in you.
Its campaign for King Charles’ coronation was no different. It came up with outdoor campaigns involving projections on popular landmarks. The copy in these campaigns was a nod to the little imperfections in life like the disagreements that exist in almost all families, including the Royal family.
Takeaways
- The 19 Crimes campaign for King Charles’ coronation is a good example of guerilla markeing and its impact on people. The campaign embraces the side that no one talks about, the reality that is often left behind. Campaigns like this one are tricky and can land your brand in trouble. But when done right, it can also bring in a lot of new leads and recognition for your brand.
- This campaign from 19 Crimes is also proof that creativity takes outdoor advertising to new heights.
- People who are familiar with the Rebel campaign from the brand might instantly recognize the theme. For it retains the aesthetics, fonts, and other details from its famous campaign.
A final note on the imperial inspiration these campaigns bring
The brands that got into the coronation conversations all had different ideas and different intents behind executing their campaigns. Some consumers celebrated with their favorite brands. While some perceived these campaigns as mere PR activities. Whatever the case, whatever your take on these campaigns, they all point in one direction – the significance and effectiveness of moment marketing.
Inspired by the campaigns that were planned around King Charles’ coronation, if you are looking to jump on to the next trend and make the most of moment marketing, look no further. Kimp’s unlimited design subscriptions got you covered. Super fast turnaround time and a designated design team to simplify your process. Want to give it a try? Register now for a free 7-day trial.